


Upgrades

by Thanos6



Series: Director Wily [2]
Category: Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dr. Wily-centric, Flashbacks, Gen, Humor, Intrigue, Podfic Welcome, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28284072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thanos6/pseuds/Thanos6
Summary: Sequel to "Reflections" and the second in the "Director Wily" series. Though he's adored and respected by the public, Dr. Wily isn't content to rest on his laurels. Even as he designs a new generation of robots to protect the world, he also concocts his own secret schemes...unaware that he himself is the target of a devious plan...
Series: Director Wily [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042503
Kudos: 7





	1. Things Change

Some days, Dr. Albert W. Wily regretted having saved the world.

Oh, for the most part he enjoyed the fame and adulation that came with being a worldwide hero. A month ago, the global government had appointed him the Director of the new **D** epartment of **R** obot **C** rimes and **I** ncidents. He had certainly relished commanding thousands of employees, from scientists to soldiers. And there was the huge budget he’d been given for the purpose of developing a new series of Robot Masters to help protect the public.

But the paperwork! The bureaucracy! The drudgery! The job was much busier than Wily had expected when he took it, and he believed he knew the reason why.

The DRCI had been founded after his former partner and colleague, Dr. Thomas Light, had been exposed to a strange kind of energy that had temporarily affected his mind, causing him to try and take over the world. Wily had stopped him (with some assistance), and Light had been returned to his normal kind-hearted self, but ever since there had been a spike in robot-related crimes. Wily suspected that criminals around the world had been inspired by Light’s example, albeit on a smaller scale.

 _Maybe I should take over the world myself after all_ , he thought as he started to read another set of reports. _If I was Lord Wily, instead of just Director Wily, I could make someone else do this_.

_-W-_

That evening, back in his personal quarters, Wily prepared himself for something much more enjoyable than humdrum administrative work. He fixed a cup of tea, got comfortable in his favorite chair, and placed a call on his videophone.

After a few seconds, Light’s smiling face appeared on the screen. “Albert! So good to see you again! I must say, I’m enjoying these weekly chats of ours!”

“As am I, Thomas,” Wily replied. _But I think I enjoy them for very different reasons than you do_ , he added to himself. Once, it had been Light who had been the well-regarded one, the one who kept winning prizes and awards and accolades, while Wily had been the perennial runner-up, even shunned from the professional robotics scene for a time because his “Double Gear” research proposal had been deemed unethical.

But now, oh, the tables had turned. He couldn’t resist calling him once a week to subtly gloat, though at times he wondered if naïve, idealistic Light even noticed.

_-W-_

“Before you leave, I’m afraid I have to ask a favor of you,” Wily said once the conversation had wound down. Only two months ago, those words would have burned in his throat.

Light’s eyebrows raised. “Of course, of course! After all you’ve done for me, I’m more than happy to help you however I can. What is it you need?”

“I’m sure you’ve seen the news discuss the rise in robot-related crimes. Well, with the DRCI being so new, many of my agents are still very inexperienced. I’m in the process of designing my own series of Robot Masters to lead field operations, but until they’re complete, I find myself needing…reinforcements. I’d like to ask if you could send me Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Time Man, and Oil Man. To train and lead my troops. Temporarily, of course.”

“I’d be honored, and I’m sure they will be too! I’ll send them out first thing in the morning, and tell them to do whatever you need them to.”

 _Dangerous words, Thomas_. “I appreciate that.”

“Would you like me to send Rock and Roll as well? They can be very helpful—”

Wily’s lip twitched, almost imperceptibly. “No,” he said curtly, and ended the call.

_-W-_

He knew that next week, he’d have to give at least a perfunctory apology. But he would not, could not, allow Light’s “children” to come to DRCI’s headquarters at Skull Castle. Not anytime soon. Possibly never.

During his campaign for world conquest, the unwell Dr. Light had modified Rock and Roll into combat robots: Mega Man and Mega Woman. They had been his most dangerous warriors, and had in fact come within mere seconds of killing Wily. That moment haunted his dreams. He’d wake up every few nights, the sounds of their energy cannons charging up as they prepared to execute him echoing through his mind.

It didn’t help that his savior had been a Mega Man from an alternate timeline. Not when he revealed that in that timeline, Wily had indeed tried to take over the world, but been defeated by Mega Man again and again. Even as he departed for his own universe, he’d hinted that he might return at some point, to ensure that this Wily didn’t go down that same megalomaniacal path.

It didn’t matter that Light remembered nothing of what he’d done while under the influence of the “Evil Energy.” Nor did it matter that when Wily had reverted Rock and Roll to their old selves, he’d made sure to erase their memories of what they’d done as Mega Man and Mega Woman.

He had no intention of coming face to face with either of them for quite some time, if he could help it. Not without some sort of ace up his sleeve.


	2. The Bots Are Back

He had just put the finishing touches on the new model of his Wily UFO—faster, roomier, and with a blue canopy that he found more aesthetically pleasing—when he was notified that his guests were arriving. He met them outside the entrance to Skull Castle as they disembarked from the shuttle from the airport.

“Heya Doc! Nice to see ya again!” Oil Man said, fiddling with the scarf he liked to wear around his face.

“Sorry we’re late,” Time Man added sourly. “If _someone_ hadn’t been so obsessed with polishing their shears…”

“Hey!” Cut Man replied, sounding slightly affronted. “I had to make sure everyone could tell I was a _cut_ above your everyday robot!”

“Please,” Ice Man said with a sniff. “Our excellence is obvious through our superior engineering. And if there’s any doubt, it’s our performance in the field that will prove it.”

“And I can’t _wait_ to prove it!” Fire Man said energetically. “Any criminals that try to start something, we’ll show ‘em how hot the flames of justice can burn!”

“Nice place you got here,” Guts Man said, looking up admiringly at Skull Castle. “Wish I coulda helped build it!”

“But if you ever need to do an overhaul, just say the word!” Bomb Man added. “Can’t have renovation without some demolition first, after all!”

Elec Man sighed, and saluted briefly. “ **D** octor **L** ight **N** umbers 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 00A, and 00B reporting for duty. Though how much help this bunch can be, I’m not sure.”

Dr. Wily chuckled. “Relax, Elec Man. This isn’t the military, no need to be so formal.”

_-W-_

Wily always found it fascinating how the most advanced models of robots had personalities that were so much more complex that what had been programmed into their code. They each had their own quirks and traits, likes and dislikes, that seemed to develop spontaneously. Oh, certainly you could encode some baseline natures; you’d want a construction foreman like Guts Man to be reliable, for example, and you could make that happen. But his love of karaoke? No, that had never been programmed, it had just _happened_ , and no roboticist in the world could tell you why, not even Wily himself.

Even if you mass-produced a Robot Master, or another similarly sophisticated type of robot, no two of them would ever have exactly the same personality. That was largely _why_ they weren’t mass-produced; aside from consistency issues, many roboticists felt it raised the same kind of ethical issues as did human cloning. And it was why Dr. Light was leading a campaign to change the law, so that destruction of sufficiently advanced robots would be treated like murder.

_-W-_

He showed them to their quarters, gave them each a copy of the DRCI employee handbook to study, and told them he’d see them tomorrow. Then he went to his office to do some thinking.

These current Robot Masters were unquestionably formidable, but they hadn’t been intended for combat when they’d been built. But he needed robots who were specially designed to be warriors, and that was true whether he was going to police the world or take it over. But that didn’t mean the DLNs couldn’t serve as inspiration. In fact, wouldn’t that be a great way to show up Light, that committed pacifist? Improve on the basic concepts behind his robots and turn them toward combat?

He’d already come up with a few ideas in that direction, but now that they were actually here, he was feeling inspired…

_-W-_

The week went by without incident, and soon he was having another chat.

“So how are my robots doing?” Light asked. At that moment, he reminded Wily of nothing so much as a father asking a teacher how his children’s first day of school had gone, full of both pride and worry.

“Doing quite well,” Wily replied, sipping his tea. “Right now they’re still learning all the regulations, training with the other employees in simulations and controlled situations, that sort of thing. But I figure that by Monday, they’ll be ready to go out on patrol, so to speak. By the way, I apologize for hanging up on you so abruptly last week.”

“Oh, forget about it, Albert. I already have. Say, did I tell you that I’ve almost completed Bond Man?”

Wily actually laughed. “You’ve been working on him almost as long as I’ve known you! He’s supposed to be, what, DLN-00C? What spurred you to finally finish him?”

“Just wanting to keep myself busy, I suppose. Can’t get too lazy. Oh! I have some very interesting news, Noele informed me earlier that she just finished her very first Robot Master!”

“Did she now?” Wily’s eyebrows raised. Noele Lalinde was one of the very few roboticists on the planet that he was willing to place in the same category of genius as Light and himself (of course, he was at the very top of the category). “What did she say?”

“Well, that her name is Tempo.”

“Just one name? Like Rock and Roll?” Wily forced himself to stay composed, even though his pulse was quickening just thinking about them. “Following in your footsteps, then. I guess she admires you!” he teased. He’d long suspected Light had a crush on Lalinde.

The other man blushed. “Well, I can’t say about that! She didn’t go into much detail, though she did imply that she gave her a compound name too. I get the feeling she wants to do a big reveal in person.”

“Another proud robot parent?”

“Now, Albert,” Light chided gently, “Just because robots aren’t special to you—”

“I never said they’re not special to me—”

“—doesn’t mean they’re not special to others. Why, I couldn’t be prouder of my Rock and Roll. Just yesterday I overheard them talking about how they could try to make up for what they did when I had my, er, affliction.”

Dr. Wily’s teacup rattled in its saucer. “What ideas did they come up with?”

“They were considering asking me to turn them back into Mega Man and Mega Woman.”

Wily sprayed tea all over the video screen. “ _WHAT_?!”

“Oh yes, they thought they could use those abilities to help people, maybe even working with the DRCI! Well, of—Albert? Albert?”

_-W-_

_They looked like a human boy and girl, but their form-fitting suits of armor—the boy’s was blue, the girl’s was pink—identified them as robots._

_“I’m going to take over your base, and use its resources to restart my conquest of the world. And I’m not alone. I’m bringing my children with me. Rock and Roll, remember them? Or as I call them since I’ve improved them…MEGA MAN AND MEGA WOMAN! See you soon, Albert.”_

_The core of the Yellow Devil exploded, scattering polymer everywhere._

_“_ _MEGA MAN AND MEGA WOMAN! See you soon, Albert.”_

_The other Robot Masters fell one by one._

_“See you soon, Albert.”_

_The Wily Machine’s energy cannon started to overheat and spark._

_“MEGA MAN AND MEGA WOMAN!”_

_The cannon exploded. The force of the blast ripped the shield away from his cockpit._

_“MEGA MAN AND MEGA WOMAN!”_

_He landed roughly on the hard concrete floor. And then he was staring glumly at the burning remains of his last hope, as he was dragged away by strong robotic hands._

_“See you soon, Albert.”_

_“Children? Dispose of him.”_

_He clenched his eyes shut. There was the sound of an energy discharge—_

_The sound of an energy discharge—_

_An energy discharge—_

_“MEGA MAN AND MEGA WOMAN!”_

_“See you soon, Albert.”_

_“See you soon, Albert.”_

_-W-_

“—Albert! Albert, all you all right?”

Wily blinked. He was gripping his chair for dear life. His cup and saucer had fallen to the floor, where the plush carpet had kept them from shattering. His forehead was burning up, but the rest of his body was being wracked by chills. Light was looking at him anxiously.

“What? Yes…I…”

“I was just about to contact the main switchboard at your place and have them send some medibots. Would you like me to do that?”

“No, that, that’s all right. I’ll see myself to the infirmary. Probably coming down with something. Thank you, Thomas.”

Light was still frowning with worry as Wily ended the call.

_-W-_

At the infirmary, the medibots detected elevated stress levels ( _yes, thank you, never would have figured that out by myself_ ) but found nothing else physically wrong with him. In the end, he accepted a bottle of sleep aid that was supposed to also help prevent nightmares, but that was just a temporary solution, and he knew it.

He couldn’t keep reacting like this. The nightmares, the sudden bouts of irritability, and now full-blown panic attacks… He had to do something. But not therapy; some things he didn’t think he could risk telling to a therapist even with their promise of confidentiality. He wasn’t that trusting. No, he needed to make himself feel more secure.

No more procrastinating.

He had to design and construct his secret project.


	3. Departure And Arrival

He was awakened at four in the morning by an insistent beeping coming from his bedside table, but it wasn’t his alarm clock. It was his personal communicator, which only a few high-ranking DRCI members could contact him through. After a couple of seconds spent fumbling, he picked up the small skull-shaped device and pressed one of its buttons. “This is Wily,” he mumbled.

“Elec Man here,” said the Light-bot’s voice. Deeming him the most responsible, Wily had put him in charge of the DLNs when they were out in the field. “Sorry to wake you up, but I thought you should know, we’re on our way to an incident.”

He was awake immediately. “What sort of incident?”

“Large-scale malfunction at a manufacturing plant in New Jersey. The robots there have turned against the human workers.”

“How many fatalities?”

“Thankfully none. Not even any serious injuries, nothing worse than bruises and sprains. They just grabbed the humans and threw them out of the factory, then barricaded themselves inside. Local law enforcement and our officers in the region have been unable to make entry, so they called us. We should be there in a few hours.”

Wily nodded in satisfaction; he had designed the DRCI’s emergency response transports himself, one of many accomplishments he’d boasted about in the multitude of interviews he’d granted recently. They weren’t as fast as his personal UFO, but they still far outpaced any commercial flight and most military ones. “Update me again once you get there and scope out the situation.”

“Can do, sir. Elec Man out.”

Wily exhaled softly as he terminated the connection. Well, this was it. His first real test as Director. He hoped everything would go well and his reputation as a hero would stay intact. Still, he mused, even if something went wrong he was sure he could spin it to his advantage. _Don’t blame me_ , he’d say. _If it was my own robots that had been there then everything would have been fine. Once they’re built this won’t happen again. Oh, and give me a bigger budget so I can make more of them._

And hopefully no one would be seriously hurt. That was the most important thing. Obviously.

_-W-_

Wily hadn’t been able to get back to sleep, so he went to his office and did some more design work on his new series of Robot Masters. After about three hours, a message came into his computer:

_Albert,_

_You’ve never gone into too much detail about what exactly happened when my children and I confronted you just before you were able to cure me of my affliction. That is your right, of course, and I haven’t pressed for details, nor will I. But it’s obvious that something about it affected you badly, given how you react to the idea of meeting them again, or at even the mention of their alter egos._

_Therefore, I will do my best to avoid talking about them, so as not to cause you undue distress. If you ever wish to talk about them, let me know, but I will not volunteer any information about them until and unless asked._

_Just remember that if you ever need to talk about anything, I’m available._

_Your friend and colleague,_

_Thomas_

He hadn’t replied. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say.

The message had eased his mind somewhat, but Wily still couldn’t shake the urge to build a secret weapon to deal with Rock and Roll, just in case. And if he ever did decide to take over the world, he’d need to be prepared for that alternate timeline Mega Man paying a visit. Fortunately, he had an idea. And he was sure that even with the rare materials he’d need, he could bring it to life without going over the budget he’d been allocated.

_-W-_

Two hours later, his communicator started beeping again. He looked at it for a second. _I really should come up with a catchy name for this thing._ Then he shook his head as he answered it. He was tired, his thoughts were all over the place, and he should probably get some more rest, but he couldn’t while this incident in New Jersey was going on. “This is Wily.”

“Elec Man here. We’re on scene at the factory. They’re still inside and have barred all the exits.”

“Have they tried to make any demands?”

“No sir. They’ve been completely unresponsive. They wouldn’t reply to anyone who tried to communicate with them before we got here. I’m hoping they’ll talk to fellow robots. Of course, we’re far more sophisticated, but…”

“Yes, yes, just get them to talk! Find out what’s going on! Wily out.”

He ended the connection and drummed his fingers on his armrest. Then he sighed. He doubted he’d be able to get any more designing done right now, the way his mind felt. May as well get an early start on today’s appointments. He saved and closed his work, then buzzed his secretary. “Send my first visitor in.”

_-W-_

His first visitor was a man several years younger than himself, wearing large glasses and an electric blue bow tie. His brown hair was styled in a long, thick taper cut with a rather severe part, and his mustache was almost as bushy as Wily’s own. He carried a large, thick metal briefcase.

“Dr. Wily! Such an honor to meet you at last!” the man said as he strode in, reaching out and shaking his hand.

“And whom do I have the honor of meeting?” Wily said, resisting the urge to rub his eyes to keep himself alert.

“Ah, of course, I haven’t introduced myself, have I? Dr. Stephen Rozner, of Hi-Tech Electronics.”

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with you or your company, Dr. Rozner.”

“I’m not surprised,” Rozner replied as he took a seat. “We’re a pretty small company headquartered in Manhattan. But in our area of expertise, we like to think we’re top of the line.”

“And your area of expertise is…”

“Animals, robot animals to be precise. Of course, there’s no shortage of robot animals on the market. Hot Dogs, Atomic Chickens, Robo-Rabbits, Croakers…and they’re all fine products. But they’re also _obviously_ robotic animals. They don’t even try to be realistic. But Hi-Tech Electronics makes robot animals that are visually indistinguishable from the real thing. And I was hoping you’d be willing to be one of our first clients.” He hoisted his obviously heavy briefcase onto the desk. “I brought some samples. May I?”

“Be my guest,” Wily said, intrigued despite being tired.

Rozner tugged on the lid of his briefcase, but nothing happened. “Sorry,” he grunted, “Gets stuck sometimes…” He kept tugging, but it still didn’t open. Wily leaned over to help—

—and as he did, it suddenly sprang open, smashing him in the face. He yelped in surprise and pain, and his nose started to bleed all over the lid.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, so sorry! Here!” Rozner pulled out a handkerchief and passed it over to Wily, who fixed him with a glare that could have melted ceratanium.

“Just show me your robots,” he muttered as he cleaned off his face, throwing the bloody handkerchief back at Rozner, who stuffed it inside the briefcase, which he then opened fully.

As he pulled out the robots, Wily had to admit he hadn’t been exaggerating. There was a bat, a frog, a rat, a piranha, an eel, a spider, a bee, and some sort of bird of prey. The spider and bee were a little large, and the bird a little small, but otherwise they were very lifelike indeed.

“So what exactly do they do?” he asked, trying to hide how impressed he was.

“Well, let’s see. Our Batvire model here is built for discreet aerial surveillance…” Rozner spent the next few minutes extolling the virtues of one robot after another, but was interrupted by Wily’s communicator beeping.

“Pardon me,” Wily said, grabbing it and turning around to answer. “Elec Man, I presume?”

“Yes sir. The robots in the plant have suddenly gone on the offensive. A couple of them are on the roof, hurling some of the factory’s heavy machinery. No one’s been hurt yet, but I think it’s just a matter of time.”

Wily scowled. “All right. Elec Man, as Director of the Department of Robot Crimes and Incidents, I hereby authorize you and your comrades to make entry into that factory by force. Stop those robots before they hurt anyone else by any means necessary. Try to keep at least one or two intact so I can study them, if possible. If not…if not, I’ll understand.”

“Yes sir! Elec Man out!”

As he ended the communication, Wily gazed at the wall for a moment, lost in thought. The occasional robot would go berserk every now and then, but he’d never heard of so many going haywire all at once. What could be the—

“Is everything all right?”

He spun his chair back around. He’d almost forgotten about Rozner. “There’s an incident that I believe will require my supervision from the command center. I’m afraid I’ll have to cut our meeting short. So if you don’t mind…” He could have let the other man wait, but he didn’t know how long this would take. Anyway, he absolutely refused to allow anyone in his office unsupervised for any length of time.

Rozner smiled softly. It looked like he’d anticipated this, as he’d already re-packed and closed his briefcase, and was rising to his feet. “I understand. My own schedule is pretty busy for the foreseeable future, but perhaps later we can work out a time to meet again?”

“Of course, of course.” Wily walked out with him, closing the door behind them, then activating its multiple locks.

He didn’t notice the spider concealing itself in one corner.


	4. Metal's Mettle

As there were two entrances to the plant, Elec Man divided the DLNs into two groups. He, Cut Man, Guts Man, and Fire Man would take the front entrance, while Ice Man, Bomb Man, Time Man, and Oil Man would take the rear entrance.

He was no tactical genius, but the DRCI training he’d gone through had taught him a little. His static field interfered with Time Man’s powers, so they should be in different groups. Keep Fire Man away from both Ice Man and Oil Man. Guts Man and Cut Man had good teamwork, so pair them together. Same for Oil Man and Time Man. And so on.

Most of the humans had retreated to a safe distance. A few officers, heavily armed and armored, were covering the small emergency exits on the sides of the factory, to prevent any rogue robots from escaping.

Elec Man opened up a radio link. “Everyone in place? Good. Let’s make our grand entrance.”

_-W-_

Guts Man charged, building up momentum before crashing through the door, easily breaking the barricade and scattering several nearby robots. “Hey! If ya don’t like workplace conditions, ya go on strike! Ya don’t assault your bosses!” He grabbed them one-by-one, then threw them into the wall with the strength of his Super Arm, where they shattered into pieces. “No matter how tempting it sometimes is!”

The others quickly followed him inside. Glancing around, Elec Man spotted a large group of robots on an elevated catwalk, lifting some equipment to throw at them. “You _must_ be malfunctioning if you want to mar my beautiful chassis…let me prescribe some shock therapy! Thunder Beam!” He pointed at them, and electricity jumped from his fingers to the metal catwalk. From there it arced into the robots, causing them to twitch and collapse.

Fire Man charged ahead, deeper into the plant. As the renegades hurled things at him, he activated his Fire Storm. A protective shield of fireballs whirled around him as he simultaneously hurled a wave of flame in front of him, turning his attackers into molten slag. “Burn! Burn in the righteous fires of justice! This is the fate of all who attack the innocent!”

Cut Man jumped onto Guts Man’s shoulders, and from there vaulted into the maze of pipes and tubes that ran overhead. He used his natural agility, and the retractable hooks in his feet, to vault and swing from one to another. Often he did it with only one hand, using the other to hurl the shears of his Rolling Cutter, which would slice off the heads of nearby robots before returning to him. “Sorry you couldn’t make the cut, but you don’t have to lose your heads about it!”

_-W-_

“Let’s start this party with a bang!” Bomb Man cried out as he ran through the hole that one of his Hyper Bombs had blown in the back entrance. He immediately began creating more bombs, throwing them at robots left and right. Smoke and sparks filled the air. “Or even better, several bangs! Maybe even a boom or two!”

The other three surged in after him. Time Man used his Time Slow ability on several groups of robots nearby. They suddenly began to move as if they were trapped in molasses, and he hurled some bolts of purple energy at them. The bolts, which were shaped like the hands of a clock, punched gaping holes in several robots’ abdomens, causing them to collapse. “Just give up now. You won’t win, and the sooner this is over, the sooner this factory can return to operation. Every second counts!”

Oil Man discharged a glob of oil onto the floor several feet in front of him, jumped into the air, and then landed in the glob. The special low-friction oil carried him forward, a technique he called his Oil Slider. He slammed into the rest of the slowed-down robots, and as they toppled like bowling pins, their bodies smashed and broken, he gave Time Man a thumbs-up. “Sorry, rustbuckets, but no one’s as slick as us!”

Ice Man made sure several of the rogue robots were paying full attention to him. “Watch this!” As they started to throw things at him, he leapt over their makeshift projectiles and exhaled powerfully, his cold breath congealing into several waves of the Ice Slasher. After a moment, the robots crumbled into frozen fragments. “Now wasn’t that the coolest thing you’ve ever seen?”

_-W-_

Wily had told the rest of his appointments for the day to reschedule, then made his way to Skull Castle’s command center. It was here where trained DRCI agents staffed consoles and monitored relevant events around the globe. But at the moment he only had eyes for the wall opposite the door. It was taken up by a series of large monitors. Normally they showed a situation map of the world, but presently they were displaying the Light-bots’ visual feeds as they liberated the plant.

 _Things are going well_ , he thought as they cleared room after room. None of them had even been scratched and they were absolutely demolishing the renegades. It just demonstrated how wide the gulf was between ordinary robots and the intelligent, advanced Robot Masters. _And these are just Thomas’s repurposed models. Imagine what the ones I build will be like, designed for combat from the very beginning!_

Just thinking about it made him shiver in anticipation.

_-W-_

“No humans were killed. Barely any were injured at all. None of you sustained any damage from what I could tell. The factory got torn up a bit, but not as much as it could have been. All in all, a job well done. Though it’s a shame you couldn’t manage to take any of them intact.”

“That’s not our fault,” Elec Man’s voice replied quickly over the skull-shaped communicator. In the background, Wily could hear that clean-up had begun. “We were going to take those last two into custody—”

“I’m not blaming you. You couldn’t have predicted…” Wily was by no means easily disturbed. But when those last two robots had calmly reached inside themselves and started destroying their own critical components, before collapsing like abandoned marionettes, even he had shuddered, despite watching it from approximately five thousand miles away. “It’s just disappointing that I couldn’t analyze them, figure out what went wrong. If, indeed, something did go wrong…”

“Sir?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s around 8:30 there, yes? You all did well. I grant you twelve hours leave. Take the rest of the day off. Enjoy New Jersey.” Once Elec Man acknowledged him, he closed the connection and left the command center, ruminating on the morning’s events as he did so.

Robots occasionally went haywire, that was true. But even when they did so, they tended to retain their desire for self-preservation. There was no great cause they martyred themselves for. No, he’d never seen a robot commit suicide. Unless they’d been ordered to.

_If, indeed, something did go wrong…_

There was a human involved, he was sure of it. A human who had programmed the robots to destroy themselves in the event of imminent capture. A human who wanted to hide evidence that could be traced back to them.

But what had that incident at the factory accomplished? What was the point of it? Who was behind it?

He didn’t know. But he was going to find out.

As he walked down the hall, on his way to a light lunch and then a nap, Wily grinned to himself, rubbing his hands together.

He had a challenge. He had an opponent.

This was going to be _fun_.


End file.
